Three different types of operating tables are typically used in hospitals, namely stationary operating tables, movable operating tables and mobile operating tables. Stationary operating tables have an operating table column permanently fixed to the floor of the operating room. Normally, stationary operating tables do not comprise an operating table column base. Movable operating tables have an operating table column base which is connected to the operating table column, has no rollers and no transport devices and stands on the floor of the operating room at least during a surgical operation. The movable operating tables are liftable and movable by means of transport carriages. Such a system which comprises a movable operating table and a transport carriage is also referred to as a mobile operating table system.
The operating table column bases of mobile operating tables have rollers for moving the operating table, Mobile operating tables are thus movable without further auxiliary means. In the case of mobile operating tables, the rollers are lockable so that the operating table is not movable during a surgical operation, and/or the column base can be lowered with respect to the rollers so that the operating table stands safely on the floor during a surgical operation.
Further, in the case of mobile operating tables, electric traction drives including soft start and safety brake function are known in order to move the mobile operating table by the electric traction drive. This traction drive unit is actuated via at least one control element, in particular via a non-wireless or a wireless remote control. In the case of traction drive units with at least two speed levels, a changing of the speed level is then possible. This is particularly useful when a mobile operating table has been moved out of the operating room and shall be moved further, for example, along a corridor of an operating wing over a longer distance. In the operating room itself, the maneuvering is problematic because of the usually quite narrow space and a significant number of obstacles so that a low drive speed of the traction drive is appropriate. However along long corridors, as are common in the operating wing of hospitals, a higher speed is desirable to facilitate a fast work flow. In known switching operations, the movement or the operating table is stopped for a short period of time to allow for changing the speed level and a complex setting of the desired higher speed level via a menu of the control device or the remote control is carried out. To reset the lower speed level afterwards, the procedure for setting the speed level is performed repeatedly in the menu of the control device. As a result, a changing of the speed is relatively complex in known mobile operating tables. An alternative possibility for changing the speed could be that one separate control element is provided for each speed level on the control device, in particular a remote control. However, this makes use of the control device undesirable. In particular, when the control device also serves to operate adjustable components of an operating table during a surgical operation, it is not useful (e.g., for reasons of clarity) to provide a plurality of control elements for functions that are not required during the surgical operation itself.
From document DE 19955116 A1, a control unit for controlling the drives of an operating table support surface is known, the support surface being removable from an operating table column and comprising components adjustable by an electric motor, the control unit comprising an energy supply, a control and a control device. The control device is integrated in a transport carriage for the transport of the operating table support surface.